South African Government Bails Out South African Airways

as a commenter stated about a month ago.
this is interesting. the first three postings i have read this week are about the interface of politics on aviation.
i'm wondering if this means politics is taking over our lives?

Yes Paul, this is sadly becoming a reality in our country. My brother-in-law spent lots of years (and money) to build up 2000 flying hours to obtain his Commercial Pilot License hoping to be appointed by SAA. Eventually he still did not succeed because he did not conform to the transformation policy set by the Government. For that reason many very competent pilots have left the country. SAA has recently announced that they will look at employing pilots with as little as 500 flying hours, providing they conform to the transformation policy set by the Government.

SAA is another post-apartheid disaster. South African Airways was rated one of the best airlines in the world up to the 1990s. However, in the “new” South Africa, it is now rated one of the worst! After having experienced some nightmare flights and very unpleasant encounters with SAA on international flights my wife and I vowed not to use them again. We sadly agreed that the once proud flag carrier and largest airline of South Africa has since deteriorated badly.